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has had a similar - though decidedly shorter - history, with a desk occupied by Pakeha presenters, either with one man and one woman or sometimes two men and one woman. And guess what? All of those women were again, pretty, Pakeha and blonde.

With Hilary's move to Seven Sharp, it remains unclear who will fill the second chair. If history is anything to go by, it's safe to assume it will be a straight, white male.

It's rumoured Hauraki host Jeremy Wells is in the running for the job, while others are speculating John Campbell or Paul Henry could return to prime time.

Stacey's actually done the job before, when she was part of the revolving panel brought in to replace Greg Boyed in 2013, after he bailed on the job after just nine months.

She was excellent. Informed, eloquent and likeable. So why shouldn't she get a shot now? Why can't we have two women on the desk?

There used to be this idea that only men could deliver hard news and women were there to a) be eye candy and b) present the lighter, fluffier side of news.

This is such a well-known trope that films from Anchorman to Iron Man to Fifty Shades of Grey have employed it. Female journalists in films are almost always looking to "prove themselves" as "serious journalists" but their emotions get in the way, or they use sex to get stories.

For far too long, female journalists have been over-sexualised and underestimated and the truth remains that many men don't want to get their news from women. They don't trust us.

He said Kerre wouldn't be able to cut it, she couldn't take a hard stance like Leighton, or keep her emotions separate. She'd ultimately be "too soft" to do the job "right".

I have to assume this isn't the general consensus in our country (in order to maintain my will to live), but it's an opinion that's out there and between that and the overly sexual tropes, which have been fed to us by pop culture for decades, it's no wonder we think we need a man on the desk.

But even if that were - in some crazy, alternate universe - true, why not move Daniel Faitaua from the midday news? Or better yet, why not pluck Scotty Morrison from the Te Karere desk and put him next to Hilary?